This week, the Next Level Photography Workshop tour begins and I'll be teaching everything I've learned about the business of photography including lighting, shooting techniques, business tips and strategies and most important believe it or not, I'm going to teach what I like to call, "beyond the gear!" This is what really makes a difference and gives you a long career in photography. Yes, you are going to learn about all the gear as well and I'm going to teach you a lot about light and you'll be able to shoot as well, so bring your gear, but this workshop is aimed to really make a difference in your photography and in your life.

If you love photography and want to learn how to have a better career, come join me as I travel all over America, Canada, and Europe to teach what I love!

This year I'm more in tune with the changing seasons than ever before. It's been a while since I've been able to really enjoy spring and I didn't realize how I missed it. In Japan, the entire country celebrates with Hanami, when friends, family, and co-workers come out to eat and celebrate under the cherry blossoms.

It's an amazing time to experience. I shot every day with my Nikon D500 and D5. I used two of my favorite lenses, the 35mm 1.4 Nikkor lens and the 85mm 1.4 Nikkor lens.

The FREE 3-part photography training series launched on Black Friday and will continue through next week. Each video is packed with valuable information to help you achieve more success in photography.

If you live in America, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday, but even if you don't you can still take advantage of the great photo deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

One of my favorite programs, Perfectly Clear is on sale at a great price. If you're not familiar with Perfectly Clear, it's an amazing plug-in that works with Lightroom and Photoshop to save you time with retouching.

Imagine doing a photo shoot where you shot 1000 images. With Perfectly Clear, you can retouch just one of those pictures in about 5 minutes or less, then apply that retouching to the other 999 images quickly and easily. That's the beauty of Perfectly Clear and over the next few days, you can get it for an insane price. Click here for the Perfectly Clear deal.

Are you thinking of going to Vegas next February for the 2017 WPPI photo convention? You can get 15% off any WPPI Master Class if you register by Friday night. Click here to register.

I think every photographer starts off wanting to learn as much about photography as possible, and this is a good thing. The more you know the better your images will be, right?

4 Photography Mistakes And How To Avoid Them - Day 4

# 4: I Can Do It All

Just because you can do it all doesn't mean you should. As a matter of fact, the more focused you are in photography the better your career will be. You don't need to do it all, just focus on what you enjoy doing most and put all of your energy into that.

If I could start my career all over again with my current knowledge, I would focus on shooting what I enjoy most and only shoot that. For example, if you love cooking and love taking pictures of food, only shoot pictures of food. To go even deeper, maybe you love baking desserts vs just taking pictures of food in general. You'd focus on photographing beautiful desserts and master it vs just photographing food.

Find your special niche and work to be the best you can in your specific niche of photography.

Earlier this year I was speaking at a photo convention in Japan. There were several photographers speaking and the day before the convention started we had a rehearsal session. I watched as one photographer set up to do a live photo shoot. He set up his lights, took a photo, then looked at the back of his camera to see if the exposure was right. He did this for about 15 minutes trying to figure out the right exposure until he finally got close but it was still off a bit.

4 Photography Mistakes And How To Avoid Them - Day 3

# 3: I can just use the histograms or the camera display to judge my exposure

We have all done it before so don't feel bad. I mean, it's easy to look at the display on the back of your camera and think the exposure is correct, but judging your pictures this way can lead to big disappointments. Especially if you are trying to look at your camera display while shooting outside on a bright sunny day.

The histograms give you a better view on what is correct in terms of exposure but it is still not enough information I believe. To avoid making exposure mistakes discover how to use a light meter. A light meter will never lead you wrong. Remember, numbers don't lie, but your camera display can and will fool you at times.

To learn more about light and photography, join me today for the FREEwebinar/master class which take place this Tuesday, November 1st starting at 10:00 a.m. PST

When I was first starting out in photography, I thought the more light I added to an image the better my image would become. I believed my pictures didn't look good because I just didn't have enough light to "fix" them .

4 Photography Mistakes And How To Avoid Them - Day 2

# 2: I Need More Light To Make Better Pictures

One of my biggest mistakes starting out in photography was buying more gear than I needed at the time. I remember thinking I needed at least three lights to make a decent picture but when I finally had three lights I still wasn't happy with my pictures. By having more lights I felt like a professional but my pictures didn't look any better. One day a mentor took me to the side and said, "Matthew before you buy any more lights learn to master using one light first!" I think that was the best advice I've ever received in my career.

Photographic lighting is hard to see but by learning how to use one light first you begin seeing how light works. To avoid making the mistake I made, use one light in as many ways as possible. Think of the sun, which is one light source, but it gives us many different types of light. Use your one light in as many ways as possible and find out which way is your favorite. Once you find what you like, use it over and over until you master it.

To learn more about light and photography, join this week'swebinar/master class which take place this Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. PST

The other day I overheard two guys talking about photography in my favorite coffee shop. One of the guys said to the other, "anyone can take a great picture on a cloudy day, it's easy!" That statement is the inspiration for this series of blog posts.

4 Photography Mistakes And How To Avoid Them - Day 1

# 1: Anyone can take great pictures on a cloudy day:

While it is true that the soft light on a cloudy day can make flattering pictures, the pictures are not flattering just because it's a cloudy day. On overcast days the sun is diffused by the clouds but the sun is still giving light, it's just softened by the clouds. Think of a flashlight shining through a sheet of white paper. The paper breaks up the light from the flashlight the same way the clouds break up the sunlight. Now here's the tricky part, on a cloudy day it is VERY HARD to see light unless you LEARN how to see light.

Imagine today's a cloudy day and you want to take pictures at twelve noon of your friends or family. At noon on a bright sunny day, the light is not flattering because it's coming directly from above, On a cloudy day at noon, the sun is still in the same position except it have a thick layer of diffusion to soften the light, but the direction of the sun at this time of day is still not the most flattering and the eyes of your subject will be dark because the light is coming from above.

To avoid this problem, take pictures when the direction of the sun is lower in the sky, like the first 2 to 3 hours or the last 2 to 3 hours, depending on where you are in the world and the time of year. During the winter months this time frame of good light is shorter then in the summer months. Use the Sun Seeker app to learn where the su is and use that information to your advantage. You'll discover how to see light the more you use the app and before you know it, you'll be able to see light on a cloudy day.

To learn more about light and photography, join this weekswebinar/master class which take place this Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. PST

Today I'm in New York sharing photo lighting tips on CreativeLIVE After an amazing celebrity shoot in Los Angeles on this past Monday, I'm super excited to share lighting tips today, so make sure to tune in. I go live at 2:30 EST today.

These days I can't seem to get away from the computer so anything that can help shortcut my computer time is my friend.

This weekend I shot about 1900 image and I would usually dread the process of retouching images but since I started using Perfectly Clear my time is cut down drastically. Today the software goes on sale so you can save money and time. A no-brainer in my opinion.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and if you're in America, I hope you had a great Memorial Day holiday.

Last week, I released the first two parts of a free three-part photography training series and today I'm releasing the third video in the series. FREE TRAINING PART III

I've received a lot of great comments via the video page, twitter, Instagram and even instant message and email. One photographer asked me a question about only using natural light. He only uses natural light and wanted to know why I list this as a rookie mistake. I think this question is important for many of us today so I made a short video to explain more.

On Tuesday, we released the first FREE training video of a 3-part photography training series. At the time of this writing, almost 500 people have watched video # 1 and we hope the video reaches more as the week goes on.

Today, we are releasing training video # 2 and hope to help photographers by sharing some of the mistakes I made at the start of my career. To watch both training sessions you need to sign up for the series. AS soon as you sign up you get instant access to the series.

You've probably heard the phrase, "Today is the first day of the rest of your life," but today really could be a turning point in your photography.

Today is the first day of a FREE training series designed to help photographer learn more about different aspects of photography. The series consists of three training sessions that will be released over the next ten days.

To join the FREE TRAINING SERIES you must sign up by clicking HERE. Once you sign up you get INSTANT ACCESS to the first training session. There are three training sessions total with the other sessions being released between now and next Tuesday.